Dean Tuckers Reflections on the prefent Matters and Difputes 371 A Discourse delivered to the Students of the Royal Academy 375 Priestley's Letters to Dr. Horfley, Part II. ibid A Political Pfalm for the Service of the Year 1785 Answer to the Defence of the Perthshire Refolutions 75 ibid ibid Frequent Changes of Ministry. Patronage of the East ceeded with the India Bill ibid The Principles of the Parliament 1641, attempted to be revived 70 ibid The good Senfe of the People in the Contest with the Coalition ibid of Peers Peculiar Fabric of English Constitution Fox and Pitt's Bills Stated. Dutch Fisheries Commutation Tax Scotland, her Reform. Taxes of laft Seffion Ireland, hoftile appearances fubfided Policy and Firmnefs of D. of Rutland America, Obfervation on her Laws Views of France, Pruffia, Ruffia, England Air Balloons How Far our Predictions have been realized Every Conceffion to Ireland produces new Demands Difficult Talk of the Minifter Danger to the Importance of England Newnefs and Greatnefs of the Irish Bufinefs Reasoning upon the Principle that the Irish were independent Policy of France with the Port Ruffia and the Emperor. The Scheldt will be opened Irish Propofitions. Difficulties concerning them England Blamed for Conceffions Described and cenfured. Inimical to national Courage Peace between the Emperor and Dutch ENGLISH THE REVIEW. For JANUARY, 1785. The Hiftory of Greece. By William Mitford, Efq. The first vo lume. 4to. 16s. boards. Murray. N the prefent hiftorical age, it is with extreme pleasure that we announce fo great an undertaking as The Hiftory of Greece. For hitherto a work of this fort has remained among the defiderata of literature. And, it is obvi ous that it could not have been attempted at a period when hiftorical compofitions were more completely understood, and when the public were more difpofed to attend to them. The difficulty of this task was fufficiently apparent to Mr. Mitford. His fubject, while it is extenfive, is complicated; and his materials, while they are various, are defective. He had occafion for all his diligence and ability; and he has exerted them. As he intended that his performance fhould be as complete as poffible, he has entered very deeply into the earlier ftages of the Grecian ftory; and, in the volume now before us, he discovers that he is not only an historian, but a philofopher, and an antiquary... While he collects facts he is studious to give them their proper importance. When he meets with knotty and problematical points, he confults not his ease by avoiding them: he is anxious to fhow his ftrength in their folution. And, when he is oppofed by feeming or real contradictions, and by hoftile theories, he employs himfelf to fearch out the truth by ingenuity, fpeculation, and refearch. The firft chapter of his History is devoted to the affairs of Greece, from the earliest accounts to the Trojan war. In his fecond chapter he exhibits the early state of Afia Minor, ENG. REV. VOL. V. Jan. 1785. A and and is very ingenious in detailing the circumstances of the Trojan expedition. His third chapter examines the religion, government, jurifprudence, fcience, arts, commerce, and manners of the early Greeks. On this wide field the march of our author is in general steady and fecure. The liberality of his mind is every where as confpicuous as the extent of his information; and inftruction and amufement are fcattered with a profufe hand. Upon the early manners of the Greeks, he is particularly entertaining, and our readers may be pleased with what he has observed on the fubject of the condition of their women. • Women in the Homeric age,' he obferves, enjoyed more freedom, and communicated more in business and amusement among men, than in fubfequent ages has been ufual in those castern countries; far more than at Athens in the flourishing times of the commonwealth. In the Iliad we find Helen and Andromache appearing frequently in company with the Trojan chiefs, and entering freely into the conversation. Attended only by one or two maid-servants, they walk through the streets of Troy as bufinefs or fancy lead them. Penelope, perfecuted as the is by her fuitors, does not fcruple occafionally to how herself among them; and scarcely more referve feems to have been impofed on virgins than on married women. Equally indeed Homer's elegant eulogies and Hefiod's fevere farcafm prove women to have been in their days important members of fociety. The character of Penelope in the Odyffee is the completeft panegyric upon the fex that ever was compofed; and no language can give a more elegant or a more highly colored picture of conjugal affection than is difplayed in the converfation between Hector and Andromache in the fixth book of the Iliad. Even Helen, in fpite of her failings, and independently of her beauty, fteals upon our hearts in Homer's defcription by the modefty of her deportment and the elegance of her manners. On all occafions indeed Homer hows a difpofition to favour the fex: civility and attention to them he attributes moft particularly to his greatest characters, to Achilles, and ftill more remarkably to Hector. The infinite variety of his fubjects, and the hiftorical nature of his poems, led him neceffarily to fpeak of bad women: but even when the black deed of Clytemnestra calls for his utmoft reprobation, ftill his delicacy toward the fex leads him to mention it in a manner that might tend to guard against that reproach which would be liable to involve all for the wickedness of one. With fome things of course widely differing from what prevails in diftant climates and diftant ages, we yet find in general the most perfect decency and even elegance of manners in Homer's defcriptions of the intercourse of men and women. Of this Helen's converfation on the walls of Troy in the Iliad, and in her court at Sparta in the Odyffee, afford remarkable examples. One office of civility indeed, which we find ufually performed by women in the heroic age, may excite our wonder: the bufinefs of attending men in bathing feems to have been peculiar to women; and, in compliment to men of rank, was perfor med by virgins of the highest rank. When Telemachus vifited 4. Neftor |